Winter cover above ground

[greif]

Hi
Is an winter cover needed for above ground if I don't have trees or leaves around? If so should the cover be supported by a pillow or something so rain/ snow / ice could drain off?
Thanks

 

[YippeeSkippy]

A cover is your option.... have you a good way of cleaning the pool out come spring of whatever does drop in there? Will you still be winterizing the equipment? And remove the ladder for safety so no one wanders in.

Maddie

 

[Joetee]

I haven't covered mine for 2 wintered now. I had a hard time in late spring cleaning it. I did add some shock a couple times this last winter which helped a bit this year. It year it was terrible.
I'm considering a cover this winter.

 

[greif]

Yes to removing ladder and bringing pump inside.

 

[Pool_Medic]

Be wary of using a cover on an above ground in areas with good snow fall. Those covers can in fact collapse the pool inward.

 

[jlt19]

Be wary of using a cover on an above ground in areas with good snow fall. Those covers can in fact collapse the pool inward.

Can I ask what you'd recommend instead? We're in an area that can have 1 inch or 1 yard at a time, so you never know. My plan was a winter cover (covered by a leaf net until leaves are done) and also using a few stacked tubes tied to the middle in order to keep it tented.

 

[Northrider]

I just covered our's with a low budget mesh leaf cover. First for us due to last years spring cleaning. Last year we went topless all winter and had a bugger of a time this spring sucking all the leaves and debris out. We had record snows last year so I'll be watching this closely. I suspended the cover with old bleach bottles so that the cover can flex with the snow load until it freezes solid. Fingers crossed!

 

[gonfishin]

I cover my pool because we have a lot of trees in the neighborhood that seem to hang onto their leaves until after the first snowfall and cleaning all that out of the pool is a nightmare I prefer to avoid. Also, I can almost guarantee a nice thick iceberg in my pool each winter, so I'm not too worried about winter snow creating an issue with my pool walls by using a solid winter cover. If I didn't have that luxury, I think I'd go with a pretty tight weave cover which would keep crud out of the water but allow rain and melt to drain into the pool. Over course, an exceptionally wet winter could cause overflow conditions. There really aren't any solid answers as to what is best to do.

 

[JoeSelf]

Floats for Closing.JPG

• JoeSelf
• Apr 10, 2019

 

[1861colt]

It is going to freeze tonight, so I just dropped the water level to 1-1/2" below my opening for the through-wall pump/filter, so I could remove it and save it from iceburg conditions. We can hit below zero and we got 3 feet of snow in 2 days last year. Pulled out my pool cover provided with the pool and discovered after much effort that it was for a 16' pool, not my 18' pool. Yeh! Now I have to grab one from Amazon. Gorilla one a good one? Water level is at 12" below, so to get a 12" rise above the rim, I will stack 2 float tubes in the middle tied out at 4 compass points and I hope the cover will do a good enough job in that configuration. I will be concerned about the weight of snow and ice on it. Do you think this setup will do the job?
Had a blowup ring Intex a couple of years ago and it lasted only 2 years before the freezing winter toasted the ring and made it brittle and leaked.

 

[Newdude]

ItI will stack 2 float tubes in the middle tied out at 4 compass points and I hope the cover will do a good enough job

I’ve been helping my neighbor close her ABG for a bunch of years. You need more tie downs than 4. We do 10 to 12. Also you need some sort of belt to go around the pool. They sell a steel cable and winch thingy but it rusts out every few years so we started using rope which was much cheaper. I pass it through all the grommets and tie 2 loops. One on the end and another about 6 feet from the end. Pass the non looped end through the loop on the end. Then bring the rope back through the other loop and back to the end loop, pull tight and tie it off. You can get a lot more pressure on the rope with this redneck winch. Then we tie either cinderblocks or jugs filled with water on to the rope each panel. You can use whatever you have laying around.

 

[1861colt]

That's some cool ideas. I will try it out. So I'll create a circus tent for the tarp with the tubes and it should hold up a bit enough to help get the leaves off and the snow off when it hits. The neighbor planted several poplar trees next to our fence 15 years ago and now in the fall they shed probably 6" of leaves on our side of the fence.

 

[tbird2340]

I’ve been helping my neighbor close her ABG for a bunch of years. You need more tie downs than 4. We do 10 to 12. Also you need some sort of belt to go around the pool. They sell a steel cable and winch thingy but it rusts out every few years so we started using rope which was much cheaper. I pass it through all the grommets and tie 2 loops. One on the end and another about 6 feet from the end. Pass the non looped end through the loop on the end. Then bring the rope back through the other loop and back to the end loop, pull tight and tie it off. You can get a lot more pressure on the rope with this redneck winch. Then we tie either cinderblocks or jugs filled with water on to the rope each panel. You can use whatever you have laying around.

My winch breaks every year.. I'm closing this weekend.. Any chance for pictures of what you are describing?

Thanks!

 

[Newdude]

I can’t do pics for some reason. Turned off Live Photo and HDR. Tried using my tablet to take crappy resolution pics and even tried taking a screenshot of a pic and uploading the screenshot. Also we haven’t done her pool yet. PM me your cell # and I can make a redneck winch up so you get the idea.

 

[JohnFoe]

I vote for no cover.

I didn't do a cover last winter and it was fine. Previously the wind made it a headache and scuffed the Crud out of the rails.

I simply drained the pool under the return. Then I put a cap on the return so by the time spring came it was filled up again. I used 1 quart of poly 60 throughout the winter, maybe 3 different dosages until gone.

I did pump some water out in the winter when it wasn't frozen if it filled up too fast. I think I put pictures of what it looked like in the spring, was pretty good. I did scoop some leaves out in the early spring, but other than that I did not give it much attention.

Cover is just for debris protection. If you don't have much debris then I think you are just going to get a headache.

If it is an in ground pool I might understand, but even then I would want a security cover.